Desktop Support Contracts

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £200, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 7 May 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

 6 months to
7 May 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 299 290 304
Rank change year-on-year -9 +14 +46
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 226 320 532
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.77% 0.74% 0.90%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.83% 0.80% 0.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 129 237 381
10th Percentile £150 £125 £140
25th Percentile £175 £144 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year - - +6.67%
75th Percentile £248 £225 £250
90th Percentile £300 £282 £300
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £200 £200
% change year-on-year - - +14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 33 46
10th Percentile £13.75 £16.40 £15.36
25th Percentile £16.67 £18.13 £18.13
Median hourly rate £20.32 £21.00 £22.63
Median % change year-on-year -3.26% -7.18% +19.87%
75th Percentile £24.75 £27.00 £25.71
90th Percentile £30.68 £30.25 £27.23
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.00 £20.00 £19.38
% change year-on-year +15.00% +3.23% +7.64%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 27,103 40,251 55,892
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.50% 92.75% 94.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,687 26,220 39,044
10th Percentile £300 £280 £313
25th Percentile £406 £409 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -2.78% +2.86%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,052 2,676 1,569
10th Percentile £14.13 £12.86 £14.25
25th Percentile £18.50 £16.30 £19.25
Median hourly rate £29.00 £36.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.55% -18.89% +88.21%
75th Percentile £62.50 £61.30 £65.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £72.50 £76.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £40.00 £42.16
% change year-on-year -30.00% -5.11% +115.96%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured Desktop Support in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Desktop Support.

Daily rate trend for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 7 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Desktop Support.

Hourly rate trend for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 7 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 17 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support within the UK over the 6 months to 7 May 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads		 Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months		 Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
England -19 189 £205 +2.50% 52
UK excluding London +39 166 £200 - 31
London -37 51 £211 +5.38% 33
South West +43 39 £228 +19.74% 3
North of England +26 37 £195 +21.88% 5
South East -1 28 £200 -2.44% 15
East of England +35 17 £218 +24.29% 2
Scotland +16 17 £175 -2.78%
Midlands +24 16 £206 +16.20% 5
Yorkshire +24 14 £235 +20.51% 2
North West +12 13 £168 +19.64% 3
West Midlands +21 12 £240 +26.32% 3
North East +1 10 £155 -18.42%
Work from Home +14 9 £320 +68.42% 4
Northern Ireland -4 8 £150 +7.14%
East Midlands +10 4 £196 +60.86% 2
Wales +4 4 - - 2

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 7 May 2025, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 132 (58.41%) Windows
1 132 (58.41%) Microsoft
2 123 (54.42%) Social Skills
3 94 (41.59%) Active Directory
4 86 (38.05%) Customer Service
5 83 (36.73%) Microsoft 365
6 74 (32.74%) Windows 10
7 55 (24.34%) Security Cleared
7 55 (24.34%) Finance
8 51 (22.57%) SC Cleared
9 48 (21.24%) Microsoft Office
9 48 (21.24%) ITIL
10 46 (20.35%) ServiceNow
11 42 (18.58%) SCCM
12 40 (17.70%) VPN
12 40 (17.70%) Problem-Solving
13 38 (16.81%) Dell
14 36 (15.93%) Microsoft Intune
15 35 (15.49%) Driving Licence
15 35 (15.49%) HP
16 33 (14.60%) Microsoft Exchange
17 31 (13.72%) SLA
18 29 (12.83%) Citrix
19 27 (11.95%) Customer Experience
20 25 (11.06%) Degree
21 24 (10.62%) Analytical Skills
21 24 (10.62%) Dell Certification
21 24 (10.62%) SharePoint
21 24 (10.62%) ITSM
22 23 (10.18%) Azure

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 33 (14.60%) Microsoft Exchange
2 24 (10.62%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.44%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
3 1 (0.44%) IBM Notes
Applications
1 48 (21.24%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (3.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 7 (3.10%) MS Visio
3 5 (2.21%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.88%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.44%) Acrobat
5 1 (0.44%) Final Cut Pro
5 1 (0.44%) QuarkXPress
Business Applications
1 2 (0.88%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 83 (36.73%) Microsoft 365
2 23 (10.18%) Azure
3 13 (5.75%) OneDrive
4 9 (3.98%) Entra ID
5 2 (0.88%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.44%) AWS
6 1 (0.44%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 40 (17.70%) VPN
2 20 (8.85%) Remote Desktop
3 14 (6.19%) LAN
4 13 (5.75%) DHCP
5 12 (5.31%) DNS
6 11 (4.87%) Wi-Fi
7 10 (4.42%) Firewall
8 9 (3.98%) VoIP
8 9 (3.98%) WAN
9 8 (3.54%) Structured Cabling
9 8 (3.54%) VLAN
10 6 (2.65%) Wireless
11 3 (1.33%) TCP/IP
11 3 (1.33%) WebEx
12 2 (0.88%) Internet
12 2 (0.88%) Telepresence
12 2 (0.88%) Unified Communications
13 1 (0.44%) Network Security
13 1 (0.44%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.44%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 3 (1.33%) JIRA
General
1 123 (54.42%) Social Skills
2 55 (24.34%) Finance
3 24 (10.62%) Analytical Skills
4 21 (9.29%) Public Sector
5 18 (7.96%) Manufacturing
6 14 (6.19%) Telecoms
7 13 (5.75%) Electronics
7 13 (5.75%) Marketing
8 8 (3.54%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (3.10%) Legal
10 6 (2.65%) Banking
11 5 (2.21%) Presentation Skills
12 4 (1.77%) Organisational Skills
13 3 (1.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 3 (1.33%) Investment Banking
14 2 (0.88%) Pharmaceutical
15 1 (0.44%) Back Office
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.44%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 35 (15.49%) Driving Licence
2 15 (6.64%) iPhone
3 12 (5.31%) Smartphone
4 9 (3.98%) NHS
5 8 (3.54%) iPad
6 7 (3.10%) Management Information System
6 7 (3.10%) Self-Motivation
6 7 (3.10%) Video Conferencing
7 6 (2.65%) Data Centre
8 5 (2.21%) Life Science
9 4 (1.77%) CMDB
10 3 (1.33%) BYOD
11 2 (0.88%) Blackberry
11 2 (0.88%) Data Protection Act
11 2 (0.88%) Device Driver
11 2 (0.88%) Fat Client
11 2 (0.88%) Handset
11 2 (0.88%) Thin Client
11 2 (0.88%) Virtual Team
12 1 (0.44%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 132 (58.41%) Windows
2 74 (32.74%) Windows 10
3 16 (7.08%) Mac OS
4 13 (5.75%) Apple iOS
5 8 (3.54%) Windows XP
6 7 (3.10%) Windows 7
6 7 (3.10%) Windows 8
6 7 (3.10%) Windows Server
6 7 (3.10%) Windows Server 2016
7 6 (2.65%) Android
7 6 (2.65%) Windows Server 2008
7 6 (2.65%) Windows Server 2012
8 5 (2.21%) Windows Server 2003
9 4 (1.77%) Mac OS X
10 3 (1.33%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 86 (38.05%) Customer Service
2 48 (21.24%) ITIL
3 40 (17.70%) Problem-Solving
4 27 (11.95%) Customer Experience
5 24 (10.62%) ITSM
6 23 (10.18%) Mathematics
7 22 (9.73%) Time Management
8 18 (7.96%) Asset Management
9 15 (6.64%) Break/Fix
10 14 (6.19%) Collaborative Working
10 14 (6.19%) Root Cause Analysis
10 14 (6.19%) Service Delivery
10 14 (6.19%) Service Management
11 13 (5.75%) Business Intelligence
11 13 (5.75%) Digital Marketing
11 13 (5.75%) Programme Management
12 12 (5.31%) Incident Management
12 12 (5.31%) Inventory Management
13 11 (4.87%) Case Management
14 8 (3.54%) Patch Management
Programming Languages
1 15 (6.64%) PowerShell
2 2 (0.88%) Bash
2 2 (0.88%) Python
2 2 (0.88%) SQL
Qualifications
1 55 (24.34%) Security Cleared
2 51 (22.57%) SC Cleared
3 25 (11.06%) Degree
4 24 (10.62%) Dell Certification
5 20 (8.85%) Microsoft Certification
6 14 (6.19%) A+ Certification
7 13 (5.75%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 7 (3.10%) ITIL Certification
9 6 (2.65%) DBS Check
10 5 (2.21%) MCP
11 3 (1.33%) Computer Science Degree
12 1 (0.44%) ACSP
12 1 (0.44%) BPSS Clearance
12 1 (0.44%) Cisco Certification
12 1 (0.44%) CISSP
12 1 (0.44%) CompTIA Security+
12 1 (0.44%) GIAC
12 1 (0.44%) MCSE
12 1 (0.44%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (13.72%) SLA
2 11 (4.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 6 (2.65%) QA
4 1 (0.44%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.44%) GxP
System Software
1 94 (41.59%) Active Directory
2 10 (4.42%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (3.10%) BitLocker
4 2 (0.88%) vSphere
4 2 (0.88%) XenApp
5 1 (0.44%) Firmware
5 1 (0.44%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.44%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.44%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 42 (18.58%) SCCM
2 36 (15.93%) Microsoft Intune
3 8 (3.54%) AppManager
4 2 (0.88%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (0.88%) McAfee ePO
4 2 (0.88%) Norton AntiVirus
4 2 (0.88%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 1 (0.44%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 132 (58.41%) Microsoft
2 46 (20.35%) ServiceNow
3 38 (16.81%) Dell
4 35 (15.49%) HP
5 29 (12.83%) Citrix
6 13 (5.75%) Apple
6 13 (5.75%) SAP
7 12 (5.31%) VMware
8 9 (3.98%) McAfee
9 8 (3.54%) Cisco
9 8 (3.54%) Ivanti
10 7 (3.10%) Canon
11 4 (1.77%) Adobe
11 4 (1.77%) Google
12 3 (1.33%) Sage
12 3 (1.33%) Spiceworks
13 2 (0.88%) Panasonic
13 2 (0.88%) SolarWinds
13 2 (0.88%) WatchGuard
13 2 (0.88%) Webroot
55 Desktop Support jobs Nationwide